“What evil spirit have you familiarity with?
None.
Have you made no contract with the devil?
No.
Why do you hurt these children?
I do not hurt them. I scorn it.
Who do you imploy then to do it?
I imploy no body.
What creature do you imploy then?
No creature. I am falsely accused.”
                                                   (Boyer 355).

This is a dialogue based on the examination of Sarah Good by Judges Hathorne and Corwin. Sarah Good was living in Salem when accusations began. She was one of the first women to be tried, convicted, and executed. Her crime was “witchcraft”. Close your eyes, and repeat the word “witch” for a minute. What image comes to your mind? Most likely, it will be a dark robed, crooked woman with a Roman nose – preferably with an ugly mole on it-, and wearing a black pointed hat. Wilson Lori Lee emphasizes the fact that in famous stories or folk tales such as Hansel and Gratel, by the German writers Jakob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm, the witch is a wicked old woman who tricks children and lures them inside. Lee adds, “In the story of Rapunzel also by the brothers Grimm, there is a witch of great might, and of whom the whole world was afraid. She kept the beautiful, young Rapunzel in a tower without stairs or a door. In all these fairy tales, good wins out over evil, but all witches have supernatural powers and are associated with evil” (Lee 11). Have you ever questioned the reason why the “stereotypical witch” is always evil, and above all, always a woman?

The association of woman with evil leads back to the Middle Ages of Europe and the Patriarchal Christian society. The hate and fear of feminine power and everything it symbolized grew so much that the witch craze and witch hunts raged throughout Europe from the 16th to the 18th century, and in New England in the 17th century causing a terrible consequence: Tens of thousands of women were accused as witches, tortured and executed cruelly by the government and church. According to the church, witches were the servants of Satan and they had sold their sold to him in order to gain power. It would not be a false statement to re-name the witch hunt as “Woman Hunt” because over 80%  of the accused witches were women. Most of the them were widows or women living outside the traditional hierarchies of family (Sharpe 175). They usually owned only either a small business or a land and worked as a healer; which was enough to save them from living under the control of a male (Sean McCullough). Furthermore, the witch craze had also some connections with the old religion of the Goddess, which the church had named its remaining followers as “Pagans.” What was that shameful mass hysteria’s aim, and who was to blame? If examined carefully, answers come to light easily. The witch hunts and trials which resulted in executions in both Central Europe and Salem, America, were a way to silence the female power which had begun to threaten the patriarchy in the society.

Before Christianity, the religion of the Goddess was accepted. The creator was not male, but female, pointing out the matriachal sturucture of the society. Recent archeological evidences indicate that a goddess worshipping existed in all areas of the world at the same time, beginning in the Neolithic period, 7000 BCE (Mueller). In those old times, the society was organized such as a beehive. Men would do the muscular, fertilization and protection work. They didn’t have the right to vote or decide in any social issue. A Goddess figure was worshipped, and high priestesses were acting as the avatar of the Goddess. Eventually, men discovered “fear”. They asked each other “What if women are wrong?” “What If the way women ruled the world is wrong?” However, at first, they didn’t have any supporter, because women were in direct contact with the Goddess, they were created in the form of her. “Wasn’t the Goddess fair?” The Matriarchal doctrine was so powerful that men necessarily had to create “The Devil.” Goddess’ power had to be restricted. The society knew what “Bad Seed” meant. From their old experiences, they also knew that some boys were so hard to control. Thus, the myth was created. According to the myth, one day the Goddess, the great Mother, gave birth to a boy. He was evil, and the Goddess could never make the boy good. Creating an “evil male child” myth was not that hard. Males were the weak gender, weren’t they? Finally, the child battled with his mother to dethrone her. That was too much for even the forgiver and fair mother, so he was cursed forever by the Goddess. However that nasty boy, devil could masquerade as anything he wanted. He could even sometimes take the appearance of the Great Mother. That myth made men ask that question, “How can we be sure of the Goddess we worship now? Maybe that evil child has grown up and he’s deceiving us in the form of his mother?”

Questions began to appear on men’s minds and the creation process continued. If the devil was a male, someone equal to him in muscular power, a male was required to protect the Great Mother from her son. Slowly, societies changed the role of the male in spiritual mythologies. From then on, a male partner took part near the Goddess, someone equal to her. For some time, Goddesses and Gods ruled the mythologies together. Step by step, the role of the God was growing. The need of protection and power replaced the need of wisdom and love; and a new kind of love was born then. A love that was protected by muscle power, a love that owned what it loved, a love that included jealousy... Then, men not only served their females but also fought and died for them. Gods with magnificent powers who were fighting with their Goddesses with magnificent beauties began to appear in mythologies. So, a jealous God was born. However, what the God(s) were jealous of was not only his Goddesses’ other desirousness. People had to love that God, they had to worship him, or…! The punishing God was born, congratulations! The Greatest Power image changed, now it wasn’t the source of pure love, but pure fear. The love model of the Great Power was feminine, it was the Goddess. The love of a mother to his child was limitless and forgiving. However, now the Great Power was a demanding, jealous, vengeful, stern, Dictator God. The Goddess, with her boundless love was smoothly carrying out the nature laws. Whereas, the sulky God had a controlling power upon those nature laws and He was even stipulating and limiting its eternal love (Walsch 63). That information is necessary in order to comprehend the smooth transition from Matriarchal to Patriarchal society.

When Christianity spread through Europe, people accepted it, but some of them still held on their old beliefs. The Church put the label “evil” and “satanic” to anything Pagan –based on the old religion- and banned old traditions and rituals (Appel 21). As sexuality began to become a taboo and something evil, the old religion, which was sex-positive, was associated with devil by the church. Plague, famine and poverty was arising in Europe. A scapegoat had to be found. Who was weaker? Devil had tempted Eve and she had eaten the forbidden fruit, also convincing her husband Adam to do so (Wilson 21). So, woman was related to the Devil, she was the root of all evil. The statements of some respected religious men of their time prove the point of view to women in Christianity and Medieval Europe. "Do you not know that you are each an Eve? The sentence of God on this sex of yours lives in this age: the guilt must of necessity live too. You are the Devil's gateway: You are the unsealer of the forbidden tree: You are the first deserter of the divine law: You are she who persuaded him whom the devil was not valiant enough to attack. You destroyed so easily God's image, man. On account of your desert even the Son of God had to die." St. Tertullian (about 155 to 225 CE) made those statements in order to describe female gender. These quotes belong to St. Thomas (1225 to 1274 CE): "As regards the individual nature, woman is defective and misbegotten, for the active force in the male seed tends to the production of a perfect likeness in the masculine sex; while the production of woman comes from a defect in the active force or from some material indisposition, or even from some external influence" (Robinson). Aquinas also called woman mas occasionatus, meaning “a failed man”. St. Jerome, who was the first one to translate Greek Bible into the Latin Bible, stated that “Woman is the gate of the devil, the way of evil, the sting of the scorpion, in a word, a dangerous thing." Finally, Marthin Luther is the owner of those quotes, "No marital duty takes place without sin." "Wives to be beaten." "If they (women) become tired or even die in child-birth that is why they are there." Luther brought out the phrase "Woman's place is in the home" (Dowling). Those statements clearly show how the patriarchal society perceived femininity. Female gender was weak, less, vulnerable, and naturally evil.  

Fear has always been the main cause of anger and hatred, and people are afraid from what they do not know. In his book The World History of Psychiatry, John G. Howells states that “When champagne was developed in the seventeenth century. It was called the "Devil's Wine" because no one knew how the bubbles came to be, therefore they were assumed to be the work of the Devil” (125). Champagne was witchcraft in Medieval Europe, champagne was women. Before the Inquisition, many women held important jobs within their societies. Within Witchcraze, Barstowe clarifies that a large number of women were not doctors (women weren’t allowed to have medical education at all), but were healers such as gynecologists, surgeons, physicians, barbers and apothecaries. However, some of those women also played spiritual roles in their work, continuing their old Goddess tradition involving rituals and ceremonies (111). Those women’s so called magical powers caused fear upon authorities, men and other women, so they resulted with the decision, "She who can cure can kill" (116). At this stage, priests and trained doctors began recognizing that they were in direct competition with the female healers for business. Male dominance was under threat. The need to end this competition, along with the fear of magic, led to the exclusion of females from the realm of practiced knowledge. Suddenly, those who once were healers, owned some land, and held some power, became witches capable only of evil. Natural disasters were also often connected to witchcraft. Since women had always been associated with nature, their increasing link with “evil” could now explain events in nature which were previously unaccounted for, such as hailstorms or tempests; famine and even fatal epidemics such as plague. The universal desire of men that women should be silent, submissive and obedient was now being sent out loud and clear. Male fury began to develop, focusing on women who tried to use what were considered to be masculine tools (Symmonds). Scapegoats were found.

One of the most significant facts that need to be remarked is that most of the confessions were made under torture, thus, their reliability is questionable. In The Devil in the Shape of a Woman, author Carol Karlsen explaines the importance of some famous hand books that were used in witch hunts by the authorities, “Two works stand out for stating the wisdom of the older European tradition on why women were more prone than men to witchcraft. These are influential Malleus Maleficarum (1486) by Heinrich Institoris and Jakob Sprenger of Germany and the less well-known Tratado de las Supersticiones y Hechicherias (1529) by Spain’s Fray Martin de Castanega. Each of these works explained and justified the Church’s view that most witches were women” (155). In A History of Witchcraft. Sorcerers, Heretics and Pagans, Jeffery Russel quotes a part from Malleus Maleficarum:

“What else is woman but a foe to friendship, an inescapable punishment, a necessary evil, a natural temptation, a desirable calamity, a domestic danger, a delectable detriment, an evil of nature, painted in fair colors... The word human is used to mean the lust of flesh, as it said: I have found woman bitterer than death, and a good woman more subject than carnal lust.... [Women] are more credulous; and since the chief aim of the devil is to corrupt faith, therefore he rather attacks them [than men]... Women are naturally impressionable... They have slippery tongues, and are unable to conceal from their fellow- women those things which by evil arts they know... Women are intellectually like children... She is more carnal than a man, as is clear from her many carnal abominations... She is an imperfect animal, she always deceives... Therefore a wicked woman is by her nature quicker to waver in her faith, and consequently quicker to abjure the faith, which is the root of witchcraft... Just as through the first defect in their intelligence they are more prone to abjure their faith; so through their second detect of inordinate affections and passions they search for, brood over, and inflict various vengeances, either by witchcraft, or by some other means... Women also have weak memories; and it is a natural vice in them not to be disciplined, but to follow their impulses without any sense of what is due... She is a liar by nature... Let us also consider her gait, posture, and habit, in which is vanity of vanities” (116). 

As it is clearly understood by the writings in Malleus Maleficarum, according to those times’ respected authorities, women were physically and spiritually weaker than men, thus they needed Satan to satisfy them. Because of their weakness, they were unguarded towards evil. Moreover, they even had evil in them. “In sum, women became witches because they were born female, not male.....” (Karlsen 157).

fter a short calmness, in 17^th century, witchcraft rise again in New England, Salem. Puritans, who lived in Salem, were a religious group in England. They encouraged the Reformation because they wanted to “purify” the church. That’s why they’re called Puritans. But when the king took a more moderate view, the dissatisfied Puritans formed their own church. They also thought that wealth was very important, and a sign of blessing from God. In 17^th century they moved to the New World, seeking for religious freedom. By 1640, the Massachusetts Bay Colony had about 10.000 Puritan settlers. They experienced crop failure, hunger, cold, war and attacks from wild animals and hostile Native Americans, whose land the colonists had taken. They built churches which were also the seat of Puritan government. At church, men would vote, elect officials, debate laws, etc. Bible was not only a religious instructions book, but a legal guide. They believed they were God’s elect, chosen people, who would dwell him in heaven. However they also believed that God would withdraw his present help if people continued to deal falsely with God and with each other. They wanted to purify themselves and their communities. Their point of view to woman was also effective in their approach the purification and also witchcraft. Puritan religious ideals tended to categorize women into three groups: the young, virtuous, obedient, daughter of maidservant; the submissive and supportive wife; and the discontented, greedy witch. Women who did not fit into first two categories tended to come under close scrutiny of neighbors, who sometimes labeled them “witch.” Puritan ministers connected women who wanted wealth, power, and knowledge to Eve, the first woman that God created, according to the Bible. Eve gave into the temptation of the Devil –in the form of a serpent- and ate the forbidden fruit. She then convinced her husband, Adam, to do so. Both the afflicted and the accused, most of whom were women, were at the mercy of male judges, sheriffs, advising ministers, and jury members. (Wilson 20) According to Elizabeth Reis, "The body, for the most part, also entangled women. Puritans believed that Satan attacked the soul by assaulting the body. Because, in their view women's bodies were weaker, the devil could reach women's souls more easily and breach these 'weaker vessels' with greater frequency” (94).

Nowadays, Neopaganism in general and Wicca, a continuation of the ancient times’, old, feminine, Goddess- based religion, in particular are expanding rapidly. Neopagans’ current number is about 200,000 to 1,000,000 in North America. Though many North Americans continue to view it as a form of Satan worship, Silver Ravenwolf summarizes the term Wicca in Teen Witch: “Witchcraft is a nature based life-affirming religion that follows a moral code and seeks to build harmony among people, and empower the self and others” (4). The Majority of the Wiccans are female, and most of them worship the Goddess or the God and Goddess. Followers of the Wiccan principle are usually women who used to be under the pressure of the patriarchal society they live in and the patriarchal religion they once belonged to. Amy Wall, whose mother is interested in witchcraft, clearly explains the personal reasons of woman to decide to be a Wiccan; “….As my mother studied feminist thought, and began to learn exactly how powerless and limited women are in society, she became frustrated and turned to studying something that gave her a sense of power. Instead of picking up a picket sign and marching on Washington and outwardly fighting a repressive society, my mother turned inward to a spiritual power that has always been associated with women. In a world where women constantly feel vulnerable, threatened, and powerless, witchcraft is a secret, foreboding power that is untouchable in a society that, if it cannot uphold racial and gender equality, will at least uphold the right to free speech."

Nowadays, a disliked or extraordinary woman is still called a “witch”. It would be certainly a correct approach to name the witch craze as genocide, made in the name of God towards the female gender. Power has always been the hidden ruler, and patriarchal society blamed women, a gender which was both weak and threatening, to remain powerful. The representatives of a Male- dominated society and religion were to blame woman, a weak and wicked gender, for everything they couldn’t find an answer or solution, for everything that the “evil son” or Satan could cause to happen such as disasters, illnesses, poverty, etc. Though the evil and ugly image that comes to most of the people’s mind, when they repeat the word “witch” is pleasingly tried to be changed positively by the help of the appearance of “good witches” in some novels or series such as the Hermione in Harry Potter, in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and such, nothing is capable of rewriting the past. Walter Stephens, a professor of Italian studies at Johns Hopkins University, proposes a new theory: "I think Witches were a scapegoat for God." (Robinson) As a matter of fact, replacing the word “witches” with “women” would not be a mistake, but truth.